Bubble tea, which is also called boba tea, or pearl tea, is a very interesting tea treat concoction that is similar to iced tea, but with more added ingredients; and tastes FAR better!
Although it did not become widely popular right away, once word got out about this sweet tasting new beverage, demand rocketed throughout most of South East Asia, Japan, and Taiwan.
By the late 1990's, bubble tea found its spot in many tea parlors opened specifically for serving this drink.
There are two main types of boba tea which are milk teas and fruit teas, each one offering many variations to choose from. However, the original forms of boba tea were made up of hot Chinese black tea, tapioca pearls, condensed milk, and honey.
Why the name "Bubble" tea?
This drink is called bubble tea because of the marble-sized tapioca balls or "pearls" that are present and sit at the bottom of the cup.
These chewy balls, although having little flavor, are sucked up through large wide straws and are consumed along with the drink. Sometimes the customer will be asked if he or she wants "boba" or "bubble" added in the drink. Both these terms refer to the tapioca balls.
This beverage first began in Taiwan, and there are two tea shops that claim to be the first creator of boba tea.
The first is the Chun Shui Tang Teahouse located in Taichung City. In the early 1980's the shop experimented by adding tea, fruit, syrup, candied yams, and tapioca balls in tea.
The other is the Hanlin Teahouse, which first added white fenyuan to the drink, which resemble pearls, supposedly resulting in the name "pearl tea". Later on, the teahouse changed from white fenyuan to the black as it is common today.
Besides Asia, Japan, and Taiwan, bubble tea started to gain popularity in North America, especially those with large Asian populations such as China Town in New York City.
